Knowing God's Sovereignty & Providence
A.A. Hodge Outlines of Theology, "Providence" quoted by Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Faith on Trial
https://books.google.com/books?id=4KMMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA204&lpg
That continued exercise of the divine power whereby the Creator upholds all His creatures, is operative in all that transpires in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end.
Johannis Braunius Doctrina Foederum
The acts of the providence of God are three:
1. He preserves all things in their being and duration
2. He moves all things to their action
3. He steers and guides all things to their desired end to which they were appointed from eternity.
Psalm 57:2
I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
Psalm 138:8
…the LORD will fulfill his purpose for me…
Isaiah 42:16
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along familiar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
Isaiah 46:10-11
My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Philippians 1:6
I am sure of this; he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
Heidelberg Catechism
The providence of God is his almighty and everywhere present power, whereby as it were by hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yes, and all things come, not by chance—but by his fatherly hand.
1689 Second London Baptist Confession, 3:1
God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; (Isa. 46:10; Eph. 1:11; Heb. 6:17; Rom. 9:15,18)
yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; (James 1:13; 1 John 1:5)
nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; (Acts 4:27–28; John 19:11)
in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree. (Num. 23:19; Eph. 1:3–5)
Augustine
Trust the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love and the future to God's providence.
Ezekiel Hopkins Works, Vol. III "On Glorifying God in His Attributes"
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZPgCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA255&source
Nothing comes to pass without our heavenly Father. No evil comes to pass without his permissive providence, and no good without his ordaining providence to his own ends. Divine providence does not only ordain what effects shall come to pass, but also by what means, what causes, and in what order they shall flow. God has appointed not only the effect itself, but the means to accomplish it. Prayer is a means to bring to pass that which God has determined shall be.
John Flavel Divine Conduct or The Mystery of Providence Opened, 1678 adapted in Voices From The Past - Puritan Devotional Readings
http://www.reformedliterature.com/flavel-the-mystery-of-providence.php
The providence of God around us is the solid basis of all sanctified and durable prosperity. His providence enfolds all who bear his image in everlasting arms. He will advance you higher, and secure you better than any noble birth or estate could ever do. The delight and pleasure resulting from the observation of divine providence is very great. It will doubtless be a part of our entertainment in heaven to view with transporting delight how the designs and methods were laid to bring us there. Providence not only brings you to heaven, it brings heaven to your soul now.
God is providentially steering all to the port of his own praise and his people's happiness, while the whole world is busily employed in managing the sails and tugging at the oars with a quite opposite design and purpose. They promote God's design by opposing it, fulfill his will by resisting it, and enlarge his church by scattering it. They make the saint's rest sweeter by making their condition so restless in the world.
What a history we might compile, as we trace the footsteps of providence along the way. Here it prevented, and there it delivered. Here it directed, and there it corrected. Here it grieved, and there it relieved. This one straitened, and that one enlarged. Here a want, and there a supply.
Words cannot express the delight we may find in such an employment. O reader, what a life of pleasure you might live by noticing the ways of providence towards you! What a heaven upon earth you may have! Taste and see the glory of the study of providence.
Some providences, like Hebrew letters, must be read backwards.
Providence so orders the case that faith and prayer need to be exercised to close the gap between our needs and supply. Thus, the goodness of God is more magnified in supplying the provisions we need. Man’s extremity is God's opportunity.
Thomas Watson A Body of Practical Divinity “Of The Wisdom Of God”
The wisdom of God is seen in helping in desperate cases. God loves to show his wisdom when human help and wisdom fail. God's wisdom is never at a loss; but when providences are darkest, then the morning star of deliverance appears.
Stephen Charnock A Treatise of Divine Providence
https://books.google.com/books?id=zrzG_ugcJ6AC&dq
Providence is the great clock keeping time and order, not only hourly, but (every instant), to (God's) own honour.
William Gurnall The Christian in Complete Armour
Where canst thou be, or what can thy eye light upon, that may not bring God to thy remembrance, and give thee a fair occasion to lift up thy heart to him? He is present with thee in every place and company. Thou canst use no creature, enjoy no mercy, feel no affliction, and put thy hand to no work, which will not prompt thee either to beg his counsel, seek his blessing, crave his protection, or give him praise for his gracious providence over thee.
John Bunyan “On Conformity to the World”
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
We must not conform to the spirit of the world. As members of society, we have a part to act in it, in common with others. But if our business is the same, our principles and ends are to be entirely different. Diligence in our respective callings is commendable, and our duty; but not with the same views which stimulate the activity of the men of the world.
If they rise early, and take rest late, their endeavours spring from and terminate in self, to establish and increase their own importance, to add house to house, and field to field, that, like the builders of Babel, they may get themselves a name, or provide means for the gratification of their sinful passions. If they succeed, they sacrifice to their own net; if they are crossed in their designs, they are filled with anxiety and impatience; they either murmur or despond.
But a Christian is to pursue his lawful calling with an eye to the providence of God, and with submission to his wisdom. Thus, so far as he acts in the exercise of faith, he cannot be disappointed. He casts his care upon his heavenly Father who has promised to take care of him. What he gives, he receives with thankfulness, and is careful as a faithful steward to improve it for the furtherance of the cause of God, and the good of mankind; and if he meets with losses and crosses, he is not disconcerted, knowing that all his concerns are under a Divine direction; that the Lord whom he serves, chooses for him better than he could choose for himself; and that his best treasure is safe, out of the reach of the various changes to which all things in the present state are liable.
R.C. Chapman, 'Choice Sayings', Notes of Expositions of the Scriptures, 1883
God is honored by faith, and most honored when faith discerns His love and truth behind a thick cloud of His ways and providence.
A.B. Simpson
If we take what He sends, and trust Him for the goodness in it, even in the dark, we shall learn the meaning of the secrets of His providence.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones From Fear to Faith
Let us not be stumbled when we see surprising things happening in the world. Rather let us ask, "What is the relevance of this event to the kingdom of God?" We should judge every event in the light of God's great, eternal and glorious purpose.
A.W. Pink The Attribute of God
"The Sovereignty of God"
http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Attributes/attrib_06.htm
The sovereignty of God may be defined as the exercise of His supremacy. Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him. So His own Word expressly declares: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10); "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand" (Daniel 4:35). Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things "after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).
"Divine Providence"
The providence of God is His care of and provision He makes for His creatures, with His supervision and superintendence of them. The providence of God in His government of the world is a subject of deep importance to the Christian, for by proper views thereof he will learn to see God's activities in the daily works of His hands....Nothing is more strengthening to faith, stabilizing to the mind, and tranquilizing to the heart of a Christian, than for him to be enabled to discern his Father's hand guiding, shaping, and controlling everything which enters his life; and not only so, but that He is also governing this world, and all people and events in it....The advantages of a clear grasp of this foundational Truth of Divine providence are many.
First, it delivers the Christian from being carried away by the tide of public opinion. Few things have a greater tendency to lead Christians into error, than the apparent success of public opinion. People in general judge of a cause by its seeming success, and often Christians are greatly influenced by this pernicious principle. Opinions spread by infection, rather than by a thorough investigation of the evidence. But an accurate acquaintance with the ways of Providence, as revealed in Scripture, is calculated to deliver from this prejudice. There we discover that God has often granted much "success" to His enemies, and by it they were hardened in their rebellion. Mere success is no proof of Truth, and lack of success is neither evidence of error nor of God's displeasure.
Second, a proper acquaintance with the grand truth of Divine Providence, should also be of real help in guarding us against having recourse to artifice and deceit, in the propagation of the Truth. The Apostle Paul, in spite of all his zeal for the Gospel, disdained all worldly wisdom in his efforts to advance its progress: he commended the Truth to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Then let us stick to the means of God's ordering, and rigorously shun all human inventions. Temptations to compromise, to lower the standard, to bring in fleshly devices so as to "draw the young people," are multiplying today....
Third, a proper acquaintance with this blessed doctrine of Divine Providence provides consolation amid so much which distresses the godly. The more a true believer ponders the character of the times in which his lot is cast—the more is his heart saddened. The affairs of this world appear to be completely under the dominion of the Prince of Darkness—but in the grand truth of God's government there is real comfort and solid support for the heart. From it we learn that even the very opposition which is made to the kingdom of Christ, is part of the plan of Divine wisdom, and will be overruled for the glory of God and of His Son. It is true that "The whole world lies in wickedness" (1 John 5:19), yet not in the sense that God has relinquished its government. The wrath of Satan shall be obliged to praise God, and any device of it which has not that tendency, He will "restrain" and not allow to be manifested.
F.B. Meyer Our Daily Walk
I pray Thee, gracious Lord, that I may not miss any of those lessons which Thou art desirous of teaching me by Thy Spirit, Thy Word, and Thy Providence.
CAUTION
Thomas Manton A Practical Exposition of the Lord's Prayer "Our Father"
Care, and diligence, and necessary provision; that is our work and labour: but, for the success and event of things, leave it to God. When we are carking (Middle English c. 1300 and after, "anxiety, worry; burden on the mind or spirit", from Anglo-French karke) in the world with such anxiousness, and troubled with restless thoughts...we take God's work out of His hands. This is a disparagement to our heavenly Father, and a reproach to His providence and fatherly care.
Samuel Rutherford, Letters, No. XXI To Lady Kenmure (Published 1664 after his death in 1661)
Let us be faithful and care for our own part, which is to do and suffer for him, and lay Christ's part on himself and leave it there; Duties are ours, events are God’s. When our faith goes to meddle with events, and to hold account upon God’s Providence, and beginneth to say, ‘How wilt Thou do this or that?’ we lose ground; we have nothing to do there; it is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm; there is nothing left for us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how we roll the weight of our weak souls upon Him who is God omnipotent.
Matthew Henry, An Exposition of All the Books of the Old and New Testaments (1708-1710)
Good men are more solicitous and desirous to know the duty that is to be done by them, than to know the events that shall be concerning them; for duty is ours, events are God’s.
Also attributed to John Quincy Adams in Slavery in America: With Notices of the Present State of Slavery and the Slave Trade Throughout the World by Rev. Thomas Price, 1837 and in a speech by abolitionist John Jay, October 8, 1856
William Cowper “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”
God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform; he plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines, of never-failing skill; he fashions up his bright designs, and works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, the clouds that you much dread, are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace; behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour; the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.